Rearing Speyeria from Ova to Adult
Sept 16, 2015 13:16:00 GMT -8
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Post by beetlehorn on Sept 16, 2015 13:16:00 GMT -8
I am creating an article here to help anyone that may be interested in rearing Speyeria butterflies, (S. cybele, aphrodite, diana, idalia, atlantis etc.). To obtain ova try to find a female of whatever species is of interest in late summer, late August early September. Most Speyeria can be found nectaring on thistle, so look for thistle stands in good habitat. I usually gather three females or so by net, and immediately place them in brown paper bags. The kind you used to carry your lunch in are ideal, and can be found readily and inexpensively. Try to be very careful not to injure the butterfly, and pay special attention to not damage any legs! If it's hot outdoors I put a teaspoon full of water in the bag, so as not to dehydrate the butterfly. Then when I get home I will usually place a fresh violet leaf, petiole included, into the bag with the female butterfly, along with a section of white paper towel. This will stimulate oviposition, and gives the butterfly something to climb onto to lay eggs. This also seems to make them more calm and gets them over the shock of being captured. Each bag contains one butterfly, and is exposed to sunlight, or direct light from a 60 watt bulb for 6-8 hours each day. Sunlight is best, in my experience. Each female is fed every day at least once, sometimes three times if they will co-operate. I make up a batch of nectar which consists of purified water 1/2 cup, one teaspoon organic honey, and two teaspoons of sugar. I mix this well until all crystals are dissolved. In a petri dish I place a few cotton balls and spread them out, then I soak them with the nectar, making sure it is at room temperature. The butterfly is placed on the cotton, and sometimes she will automatically unroll her proboscis, but more often I use a quilting pin and unroll it by putting it in the middle and gently pulling and placing it on the soaked cotton. They almost always calm down and feed right away. Let her feed as long as she is willing, then when she is done, rinse her and especially her tarsa(feet) under running water. Otherwise the sugars can crystalize and hinder her egg-laying. Do this for up to two weeks, and you should get plenty of ova.
Harvest the ova by cutting out the sections where they were deposited. There may only be one in a section or several dozen. Look under the inside folds especially, because I often find clusters of ten to three dozen there. The eggs will turn from a cream color to brown in a few days, this is normal. Most ova will hatch in ten days, give or take. The larvae are very small and are brown in color, so look closely. Handle them only with a fine sable hair paintbrush. You can overwinter them until the following spring in small plastic containers inside your refrigerator, or you can rear them in the fall, breaking their diapause by placing them in a petri dish, that is lined with a damp coffee filter, and in direct contact with very young violet leaves that have the petiole suspended in rainwater, and placed under a lamp all day for several days until you can see evidence of feeding. This can be seen by shredded leaf edges, and small black specks which is frass (droppings), a good sign. Be sure to cover your setup with a clear lid so as not to let the young larvae crawl away, because they will certainly try! Make sure you have a good supply of fresh wild violets (the kind that grow in your yard)before you even try to rear these. I can't stress this enough, because your larvae need lots of fresh violets to stay healthy, and become quite ravenous in the later instars. When they are feeding, pay attention to the cycles they go through, keep the rearing container clean, and never disturb them when they are resting in one place for a long time. This means they are molting to the next instar, and they will stop feeding at this time. When they reach the fifth instar, (last stage), they will consume large amounts of food for about 5 days. This is when I place them on potted violet plantings. After this, they will start to wander and find a suitable place to spin a small silk pad to hang from. So keep them in escape-proof cages while on the potted plants. You will notice they hang in the shape of the letter "J". The pupa stays in place here being held to the silk pad by the cremaster, which consists of hundreds of tiny microscopic hooks called "crochets". Keep the pupae hydrated by misting them each morning with a sterile spray bottle filled with purified water, but don't over do this and soak them. I keep a lamp near the cage so they stay at about 75 to 80 degrees. Be absolutely sure the adult butterfly has a good anchoring surface such as screening or rough wood to attach onto while they are expanding their wings. If not they can drop and break the veins in their tiny wrinkled wings, thereby crippling them, and hindering the full expansion of all four wings.
I have successfully reared several species of Speyeria with this method, so I thought it may be helpful to write this article in case anyone has the desire to rear any Speyeria species. The process is pretty much the same for all in this genus, and I suspect the genus Argynnis can be reared successfully with this method, since they too feed on violets. The results can be quite rewarding despite the work and attention to detail. This would make a great project for a classroom, and can teach young students all about the life cycles of butterflies, because they can see it first-hand. Nothing teaches better than the real thing. Tom
Harvest the ova by cutting out the sections where they were deposited. There may only be one in a section or several dozen. Look under the inside folds especially, because I often find clusters of ten to three dozen there. The eggs will turn from a cream color to brown in a few days, this is normal. Most ova will hatch in ten days, give or take. The larvae are very small and are brown in color, so look closely. Handle them only with a fine sable hair paintbrush. You can overwinter them until the following spring in small plastic containers inside your refrigerator, or you can rear them in the fall, breaking their diapause by placing them in a petri dish, that is lined with a damp coffee filter, and in direct contact with very young violet leaves that have the petiole suspended in rainwater, and placed under a lamp all day for several days until you can see evidence of feeding. This can be seen by shredded leaf edges, and small black specks which is frass (droppings), a good sign. Be sure to cover your setup with a clear lid so as not to let the young larvae crawl away, because they will certainly try! Make sure you have a good supply of fresh wild violets (the kind that grow in your yard)before you even try to rear these. I can't stress this enough, because your larvae need lots of fresh violets to stay healthy, and become quite ravenous in the later instars. When they are feeding, pay attention to the cycles they go through, keep the rearing container clean, and never disturb them when they are resting in one place for a long time. This means they are molting to the next instar, and they will stop feeding at this time. When they reach the fifth instar, (last stage), they will consume large amounts of food for about 5 days. This is when I place them on potted violet plantings. After this, they will start to wander and find a suitable place to spin a small silk pad to hang from. So keep them in escape-proof cages while on the potted plants. You will notice they hang in the shape of the letter "J". The pupa stays in place here being held to the silk pad by the cremaster, which consists of hundreds of tiny microscopic hooks called "crochets". Keep the pupae hydrated by misting them each morning with a sterile spray bottle filled with purified water, but don't over do this and soak them. I keep a lamp near the cage so they stay at about 75 to 80 degrees. Be absolutely sure the adult butterfly has a good anchoring surface such as screening or rough wood to attach onto while they are expanding their wings. If not they can drop and break the veins in their tiny wrinkled wings, thereby crippling them, and hindering the full expansion of all four wings.
I have successfully reared several species of Speyeria with this method, so I thought it may be helpful to write this article in case anyone has the desire to rear any Speyeria species. The process is pretty much the same for all in this genus, and I suspect the genus Argynnis can be reared successfully with this method, since they too feed on violets. The results can be quite rewarding despite the work and attention to detail. This would make a great project for a classroom, and can teach young students all about the life cycles of butterflies, because they can see it first-hand. Nothing teaches better than the real thing. Tom
